Oct. 31, 2013 - 04:35PM
|

Krzysztof Krystowski, seen here in 2004, has been removed as CEO of Polish Defence Holding. (AFP via Getty Images)

WARSAW — The supervisory board of Polish Defence Holding (PHO), the country’s biggest defense manufacturer, has decided to oust its chief executive, Krzysztof Krystowski and one of his deputies, Agnieszka Rajczuk-Szczepanska, responsible for human resources.

“Marcin Idzik, deputy chief executive for sales and marketing, was appointed acting chief executive of Polish Defence Holding,” the group said in a statement Oct. 31.

The two remaining deputies, Mariusz Andrzejczak, deputy CEO for technology and development, and Patrycja Zielinska, deputy CEO for finance and auditing, are to remain on the group’s board, the statement said. The reasons for Krystowski’s dismissal were not disclosed.

The state-owned group was rebranded as PHO in May in a bid to facilitate the consolidation of Poland’s major defense industry players into one entity under its brand. However, in September, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced plans to create a new entity, the Polish Armaments Group, to integrate PHO along with other local defense players. The move has been widely seen as going against PHO’s plans of leading the industry consolidation efforts.

Krystowski was appointed the company’s chief executive in April 2012. PHO consists of about 40 entities and has a workforce of close to 10,000, according to data from the group.